Global Currency Hedging

Over the period 1975 to 2005, the US dollar (particularly in relation to the Canadian dollar) and the euro and Swiss franc (particularly in the second half of the period) have moved against world equity markets. Thus these currencies should be attractive to risk-minimizing global equity investors despite their low average returns. The risk-minimizing currency strategy for a global bond investor is close to a full currency hedge, with a modest long position in the US dollar. There is little evidence that risk-minimizing investors should adjust their currency positions in response to movements in interest differentials.

Global Currency Hedging

Over the period 1975 to 2005, the US dollar (particularly in relation to the Canadian dollar) and the euro and Swiss franc (particularly in the second half of the period) have moved against world equity markets. Thus these currencies should be attractive to risk-minimizing global equity investors despite their low average returns. The risk-minimizing currency strategy for a global bond investor is close to a full currency hedge, with a modest long position in the US dollar. There is little evidence that risk-minimizing investors should adjust their currency positions in response to movements in interest differentials.Economic

Mapping and assessing variability in the Antarctic marginal ice zone, pack ice and coastal polynyas in two sea ice algorithms with implications on breeding success of snow petrels

© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in The Cryosphere 10 (2016): 1823-1843, doi:10.5194/tc-10-1823-2016.Sea ice variability within the marginal ice zone (MIZ) and polynyas plays an important role for phytoplankton productivity and krill abundance. Therefore, mapping their spatial extent as well as seasonal and interannual variability is essential for understanding how current and future changes in these biologically active regions may impact the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Knowledge of the distribution of MIZ, consolidated pack ice and coastal polynyas in the total Antarctic sea ice cover may also help to shed light on the factors contributing towards recent expansion of the Antarctic ice cover in some regions and contraction in others. The long-term passive microwave satellite data record provides the longest and most consistent record for assessing the proportion of the sea ice cover that is covered by each of these ice categories. However, estimates of the amount of MIZ, consolidated pack ice and polynyas depend strongly on which sea ice algorithm is used. This study uses two popular passive microwave sea ice algorithms, the NASA Team and Bootstrap, and applies the same thresholds to the sea ice concentrations to evaluate the distribution and variability in the MIZ, the consolidated pack ice and coastal polynyas. Results reveal that the seasonal cycle in the MIZ and pack ice is generally similar between both algorithms, yet the NASA Team algorithm has on average twice the MIZ and half the consolidated pack ice area as the Bootstrap algorithm. Trends also differ, with the Bootstrap algorithm suggesting statistically significant trends towards increased pack ice area and no statistically significant trends in the MIZ. The NASA Team algorithm on the other hand indicates statistically significant positive trends in the MIZ during spring. Potential coastal polynya area and amount of broken ice within the consolidated ice pack are also larger in the NASA Team algorithm. The timing of maximum polynya area may differ by as much as 5 months between algorithms. These differences lead to different relationships between sea ice characteristics and biological processes, as illustrated here with the breeding success of an Antarctic seabird.This work is funded under NASA grant NNX14AH74G and NSF grant PLR 1341548

VectorBase: improvements to a bioinformatics resource for invertebrate vector genomics.

VectorBase (http://www.vectorbase.org) is a NIAID-supported bioinformatics resource for invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. It hosts data for nine genomes: mosquitoes (three Anopheles gambiae genomes, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus), tick (Ixodes scapularis), body louse (Pediculus humanus), kissing bug (Rhodnius prolixus) and tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans). Hosted data range from genomic features and expression data to population genetics and ontologies. We describe improvements and integration of new data that expand our taxonomic coverage. Releases are bi-monthly and include the delivery of preliminary data for emerging genomes. Frequent updates of the genome browser provide VectorBase users with increasing options for visualizing their own high-throughput data. One major development is a new population biology resource for storing genomic variations, insecticide resistance data and their associated metadata. It takes advantage of improved ontologies and controlled vocabularies. Combined, these new features ensure timely release of multiple types of data in the public domain while helping overcome the bottlenecks of bioinformatics and annotation by engaging with our user community

Mapping and assessing variability in the Antarctic marginal ice zone, pack ice and coastal polynyas in two sea ice algorithms with implications on breeding success of snow petrels

International audienceSea ice variability within the marginal ice zone(MIZ) and polynyas plays an important role for phytoplanktonproductivity and krill abundance. Therefore, mappingtheir spatial extent as well as seasonal and interannual variabilityis essential for understanding how current and futurechanges in these biologically active regions may impact theAntarctic marine ecosystem. Knowledge of the distributionof MIZ, consolidated pack ice and coastal polynyas in thetotal Antarctic sea ice cover may also help to shed lighton the factors contributing towards recent expansion of theAntarctic ice cover in some regions and contraction in others.The long-term passive microwave satellite data recordprovides the longest and most consistent record for assessingthe proportion of the sea ice cover that is covered by eachof these ice categories. However, estimates of the amount ofMIZ, consolidated pack ice and polynyas depend strongly onwhich sea ice algorithm is used. This study uses two popularpassive microwave sea ice algorithms, the NASA Team andBootstrap, and applies the same thresholds to the sea ice concentrationsto evaluate the distribution and variability in theMIZ, the consolidated pack ice and coastal polynyas. Resultsreveal that the seasonal cycle in the MIZ and pack ice is generallysimilar between both algorithms, yet the NASA Teamalgorithm has on average twice the MIZ and half the consolidatedpack ice area as the Bootstrap algorithm. Trends alsodiffer, with the Bootstrap algorithm suggesting statisticallysignificant trends towards increased pack ice area and no statisticallysignificant trends in the MIZ. The NASA Team algorithmon the other hand indicates statistically significantpositive trends in the MIZ during spring. Potential coastalpolynya area and amount of broken ice within the consolidatedice pack are also larger in the NASA Team algorithm.The timing of maximum polynya area may differ by as muchas 5 months between algorithms. These differences lead todifferent relationships between sea ice characteristics and biologicalprocesses, as illustrated here with the breeding successof an Antarctic seabird

Retinal Degeneration Progression Changes Lentiviral Vector Cell Targeting in the Retina

In normal mice, the lentiviral vector (LV) is very efficient to target the RPE cells, but transduces retinal neurons well only during development. In the present study, the tropism of LV has been investigated in the degenerating retina of mice, knowing that the retina structure changes during degeneration. We postulated that the viral transduction would be increased by the alteration of the outer limiting membrane (OLM). Two different LV pseudotypes were tested using the VSVG and the Mokola envelopes, as well as two animal models of retinal degeneration: light-damaged Balb-C and Rhodopsin knockout (Rho-/-) mice. After light damage, the OLM is altered and no significant increase of the number of transduced photoreceptors can be obtained with a LV-VSVG-Rhop-GFP vector. In the Rho-/- mice, an alteration of the OLM was also observed, but the possibility of transducing photoreceptors was decreased, probably by ongoing gliosis. The use of a ubiquitous promoter allows better photoreceptor transduction, suggesting that photoreceptor-specific promoter activity changes during late stages of photoreceptor degeneration. However, the number of targeted photoreceptors remains low. In contrast, LV pseudotyped with the Mokola envelope allows a wide dispersion of the vector into the retina (corresponding to the injection bleb) with preferential targeting of Müller cells, a situation which does not occur in the wild-type retina. Mokola-pseudotyped lentiviral vectors may serve to engineer these glial cells to deliver secreted therapeutic factors to a diseased area of the retina

VectorBase: a home for invertebrate vectors of human pathogens

VectorBase () is a web-accessible data repository for information about invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. VectorBase annotates and maintains vector genomes providing an integrated resource for the research community. Currently, VectorBase contains genome information for two organisms: Anopheles gambiae, a vector for the Plasmodium protozoan agent causing malaria, and Aedes aegypti, a vector for the flaviviral agents causing Yellow fever and Dengue fever

OBEDIS Core Variables Project : European Expert Guidelines on a Minimal Core Set of Variables to Include in Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trials of Obesity Interventions

Heterogeneity of interindividual and intraindividual responses to interventions is often observed in randomized, controlled trials for obesity. To address the global epidemic of obesity and move toward more personalized treatment regimens, the global research community must come together to identify factors that may drive these heterogeneous responses to interventions. This project, called OBEDIS (OBEsity Diverse Interventions Sharing - focusing on dietary and other interventions), provides a set of European guidelines for a minimal set of variables to include in future clinical trials on obesity, regardless of the specific endpoints. Broad adoption of these guidelines will enable researchers to harmonize and merge data from multiple intervention studies, allowing stratification of patients according to precise phenotyping criteria which are measured using standardized methods. In this way, studies across Europe may be pooled for better prediction of individuals' responses to an intervention for obesity - ultimately leading to better patient care and improved obesity outcomes.Peer reviewe